NBC Wants Anti-Piracy, Pricing From Apple

After an acrimonious and publicsplit from Apple last year, NBC says it wants to put its TV content back on iTunes — but the peacock wants anti-piracy measures and flexibility over pricing first.

Speaking at the ad:tech conference in San Francisco, NBC Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff didn’t mention iTunes by name when discussing piracy, but according to CNET, it was clear who he meant. Kliavkoff insinuated that Apple could create some type of mechanism in its iTunes/iPod combo to sniff out pirated content.

One way NBC is fighting piracy is with Hulu. Kliavkoff cited the increased speed with which Hulu now posts Saturday Night Live content as an example of providing fans with a legitimate means to access the content they want.

Kliavkoff said that NBCU still distributes its movie content through iTunes, so the two companies do talk, but the network would like to see some new pricing options before it reinstates TV content.

“It’s really difficult for us to work with any distribution partner who says ‘Here’s the wholesale price and the retail price,’ especially when the price doesn’t reflect the full value of the product.”

The spat over pricing is nothing new. Jeff Zucker, NBCU president and CEO, has complained about Apple’s pricing practices before, at one point even suggesting that his network should get a cut of iPod sales.